At the heart of this collection is a very silly idea.

The Joker, whose backstory has been hinted at several times over the years but has never been fully revealed, is something of an inconsistent character. He is, after all, quite mad, which leads him to actions that are equal parts whimsical and homicidal. But, over the many years since his creation in 1940, he has been portrayed in various ways, and I suppose one could argue that he's entirely different people from book to book.

The fact that no one has ever seen more than one Joker before is dismissed as irrelevant, and we're supposed to just go along with the idea that three men -- The Criminal, The Clown and The Comedian -- have been taking turns committing crimes. We're also supposed to assume that the Batman -- supposedly the greatest detective of all time -- never noticed the differences in facial structure and other physical dissimilarities between them.

The revelation suggests that the man who killed Jason Todd (sort of) might not be the same man who crippled Barbara Gordon (kind of) and murdered Commissioner Gordon's second wife (that one stuck). Frankly, it weakens the character immeasurably.

It makes about as much sense as suggesting that, because Batman in the 1960s was portrayed quite differently from Batman in the 1980s, there must be multiple Batmen. Poppycock.

Also disturbing in this story: Jason Todd, who is in his more violent Red Hood phase, kills a man right in front of Batgirl. She reacts about how you'd expect, but when she tells Batman later, the staunch "no killing" hero barely blinks. Apparently, turning Jason in for his crime would risk having their secret identities exposed, so Batman decides to let it slide.

Additional gripes: the inclusion of Jason's secret love for Barbara was gratuitous and lame, and the notion of kidnapping Joe Chill -- killer of Bruce Wayne's parents when he was a child -- from prison so he can be transformed into the "perfect" Joker is a ridiculous conceit.

But, while the premise of the story is awful, the presentation of the story is excellent. I reject pretty much everything about the narrative, but as a stand-alone, out-of-canon saga, Geoff Johns has written a compelling tale. Art by Jason Fabok is excellent, so reading Three Jokers was a pleasure. Just don't ask me to believe that it's part of the ongoing DC continuity.